Russia has become the first nation to complete a COVID-19 human vaccine clinical trial successfully. While initial human trial results suggest that the vaccine is safe and successful to some degree, it seems premature to announce the supposed 'first COVID-19 vaccine in the world.
FILE PHOTO: Professor Gottfried Kremsner injects a vaccination against the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) from German biotechnology company CureVac to a volunteer at the start of a clinical test series at his tropical institute of the university clinic in Tuebingen, Germany, June 22, 2020.
Progress made by Russian vaccine
Russia has permitted clinical trials of two forms of a potential COVID-19 vaccine developed by the Gamaleya National Epidemiology and Microbiology Research Centre. The first vaccine was carried out at the Burdenko Military Hospital to form a solution for intramuscular administration.
The vaccine was carried out at Sechenov First Moscow State Medical University through a powder to prepare a solution for intramuscular administration.
Chief researcher Elena Smolyarchuk, who heads Sechenov University's Center for Clinical Research on Medications, told Russian news agency TASS that the human trials for the vaccine were completed at the university and released soon.
"The research has been completed, and it proved that the vaccine is safe," Smolyarchuk said. She added the volunteers will be discharged on July 15 and July 20. However, there was no further information on what phase of the clinical trials has this vaccine completed.
Earlier the results of the COVID-19 vaccine tests showed that volunteers developed coronavirus immunity. According to an earlier statement by the Russian Ministry of Defence, the data collected by the Gamalei National Research Center for Epidemiology and Microbiology indicates that first and second group volunteers develop an immune response after injecting the coronavirus vaccine.
Did the vaccine conclude clinical trial or just phase 1?
A group of 18 volunteers was involved in the first stage of vaccine research at Sechenov University. The second group consisted of 20 volunteers. All volunteers were required to stay in solitary confinement in a hospital for 28 days after vaccination. While the Russian vaccine passed the first phase of clinical trials, it still has a long way to go before it can be accepted as a proven COVID-19 vaccine.
Because the number of volunteers participating in Sechenov University's research was less than 40, progress only means the vaccine has cleared phase 1 of a total of three clinical trial stages.
Even according to the WHO study, both of Gamaleya Research Institute's Russian vaccines are still under Phase 1. The first phase for these vaccines was expected to be complete by August 15, according to the ClinicalTrials.gov database.
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Search for COVID-19 vaccine continues
Although more than 7 million people have recovered from COVID-19, scientists and other healthcare systems worldwide are working to increase the creation and delivery of a new coronavirus vaccine as soon as possible.
According to the update of the World Health Organization (WHO)'s 'Draft environment of COVID-19 candidate vaccines,' only two vaccines - one from the Chinese firm Sinovac and one from the University of Oxford/AstraZeneca - have entered phase 3 of the clinical trials.
The development of a vaccine requires multiple testing steps on both animals and humans. Therefore, it takes at least 10 to 12 months to make a vaccine available to the general public after it is produced in a laboratory.
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